Don Dale Youth Detention

We cannot condone the fact that grandmothers such as 78-year-old Josephine Cesnik was beaten and threatened in her own home earlier this year. Mrs. Cesnik died nine days later, afraid of seeking help because she feared her attacker would return and kill her. We cannot condone the fact that eight-year-old Sofia Rodriguez Urrutia-Shu was raped and murdered in a Perth public toilet in June 2006. Mrs. Cesnik’s family was robbed of a loving grandmother, while the Urrutia-Shu family lost a sweet, quiet little girl. These cowards have completely shattered many lives, while the both the Howard and Rudd governments have the audacity and hypocrisy to allow 6 members of the Bali Nine to be executed by firing squad overseas! A twisted life allowed to continue cannot redeem the innocent life taken, nor can it repair the lives destroyed.

Morris (2002, p.197) discusses “The Worst of the Worst” making the comparison with what Maconochie found when he first landed on Norfolk Island and his successor Superintendent Major Childs to the present day “Supermax” prisons. These comparisons show not only the physical torture of confinement but also

The abuse took place in tier 1A on the night shift. The soldiers involved were all reserve soldiers who were not prepared or trained for this mission. They were asked to interrogate the detainees ‘take the gloves off’ to extract information out of them. The soldiers were pressured into crossing the line to gain information by the centre intelligence agency, tier 1A was known as the interrogation hold. One detained was mentally ill, he covered himself in faeces every day, the soldiers would have to role him in sand so he wouldn’t smell so bad and they named him ‘Shitboy’. What was he doing in an interrogation hold? This is one example that shows the level of humiliation and dehumanisation that went on.

“These folks have been victimized twice. Once when their daughters, their sisters, their mothers have gone missing. And then, a second time when the justice system has utterly failed them in the pursuit of the justice they so rightly deserve. There can be no solution until we get to the truth in the heart of the matter, that this is a complex issue. The sources of this violence against Aboriginal women and girls is complex, but it… there’s no possibility of finding those solutions unless we actually have the truth on the table. And the resistance from this government time and time again, to have the courage and the leadership to approach this conversation and find that truth… is yet a third victimization of these families” (Pope C. & Smiley M., 2015)

We are learning that when genuine 'Indigenous' Justice is hiding under the cloak of Western paradigms, we continue to see the rising population of Indigenous peoples--especially Indigenous women--in prisons. Our programs and rehabilitative initiatives remain under Western paradigms, even when painted with the brush of 'restorative' or 'indigenous'

Another important stakeholder in this issue is the children themselves. Almost all of the children present in detention centres are asylum seekers whom arrived in Australia by boat, and are classified as ‘unauthorised maritime arrivals’ (Humanrights.gov.au, 2015). These asylum seeker children all held the same responses to some degree. Their responses were all surrounded by the main aspect of ‘Wanting to be free and safe’.

A wide-ranging number of concerns were raised relating to the way the justice system deals with violence against Aboriginal women and girls. This included concerns with the police system, the judicial system, and the correctional system.

Honorable Minister Kai, Today I present my provisional report on the Aboriginal incarceration rates. As you know the Prime Minister in his Closing the Gap speech mentioned the indigenous community being deprived of jobs and education, which are important issues that require further investigation. However he hasn’t discussed the high rates of incarcerated indigenous people and the impact, which can have adverse effects on many other aspects such as education and job seeking. I have conducted wide research and gathered extensive data and evidence on the recent statistics graphing the evident difference in the incarceration levels between indigenous and non-indigenous people.

Racial inequality inside of Canadian prisons is shocking and sometimes unbelievable when taken into account the percentage a minority group takes up in Canada’s overall population versus behind bars. The injustices against Canada’s First Nations people are unfortunately not just historic, as their mistreatment is still evident today. Despite representing only 3% of the population, First Nations account for about 25% of the prison population in provincial/territorial facilities. More specifically, 31% of the female population, and 22% of the male population were First Nations in 2015. More than one in five admissions to men’s prisons are of Aboriginal descent, and one in three in women’s prisons. Although it can be said that more and more attention has been drawn to this issue by citizens and politicians alike recently, First Nations people continue to suffer from poverty, injustice, and a lack of opportunities compared to the average Canadian citizen. About one in four native children live in poverty, leading to criminal activity, and eventually

Over the past few years there has been an increase of Aboriginal juveniles in the justice system. The current law in Australia does not adequately protect these Aboriginal children who are caught in the system and must immediately be reformed. The issues with the current law is that it does not conform with the United Nation’s Convention’s on the Rights of the Child and the courts and police officers are not arresting or sentencing Aboriginal juveniles in conjunction with the current law. In order to address the over-representation of Aboriginal juveniles in the criminal justice system, current state and territory legislation that do not conform to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, article 37 and 40, needs to be amended. Furthermore,

The Ashley Smith story is a story that I will never forget. I cannot believe that she was treated so poorly at such a young age. As a young female that is not how she should be treated. Any human being does not deserve that treatment; it is inhumane. My position on this situation is it's absolutely wrong. When someone has a mental illness, you do not lock them in a room for 5 days with the lights on leaving them alone to their thoughts. That is not a "therapeutic quiet time" in my opinion. That is complete torture. Over the years of Ashley being in many detention centres and her history. The staff and the government should have realized that her attitude was more than just "bad behaviour" there was something wrong with her mentally and it is disgusting that it was ignored. It is even more disgusting that it took 45 minutes for the correctional officers to go into her cell

Provision [SCRGSP], 2005; Jeffries and Bond, 2012). It is also widely discussed that there is an overrepresentation of Indigenous Australians in the criminal justice system itself (Jeffries and Bond, 2009), representing up to one quarter of prisoners in Australia (Makkai and Payne, 2003; Payne, 2005). This essay will address the current issues that Indigenous Australians face within the criminal justice system, particularly, with courts. The aim of this essay besides addressing these issues will also be to provide suggestions or alternatives that may help resolve the presented issues and improve the experience for Indigenous Australians in court.

Another technique used in the documentary to challenge the viewers’ assumptions was the use of narration to present facts about the refugee situation. These facts and figures give the viewers a truthful and realistic picture of the situation. Some beliefs that exist in Australian society are that we are taking in too many refugees; they are criminals, they are taking over Australia, using Australian tax payers’ money and changing our culture. However, we are presented with facts and figures that change our assumptions. For example, more than 30 million people have fled their homes with nothing but the clothes they wear, boat smugglers charge up to and over $10, 000 US dollars, 13, 000 refugees are accepted annually only 2,000 of those refugees arrive by boat. Despite what many people think, like Raye who believed refugees in Australia are “handed everything on a gold platter,” life in detention centres is hard. In Villawood Detention Centre, over 9 months, three detainees committed suicide and 18 caused self-harm.

Sadly, that's the harsh reality for many asylum seekers, seeking refuge in Australia as they are arbitrarily detained. Good morning or afternoon. It has been a profound honour to be invited to address you about the eloquently breach of basic human rights asylum seeker face while being detained in our shores. Mandatory detention should be abolished as it causes indiscriminate health risk. Instead, the Australia government should allow asylum seekers to settle into the community. We should be viewing asylum seekers as a humanitarian issue instead of a political one.

Young people represent the future of society. Consequently, they deserve respect and support while they develop in order to maintain a fair and just society. Therefore, it is the juvenile justice system’s responsibility to establish institutions and legislation to protect the important role that young people play in society. The system should also be driven by welfare and justice concerns as young people have special needs in regards to their age, and their physical, emotional and social development. It is essential that these welfare and justice concerns are addressed effectively by the system in order for young people to flourish. This essay will firstly assess the NSW juvenile justice system in regards to its treatment of young offenders in detention, in conjunction with its obligations under domestic and international law. Additionally, this essay will analyse evidence of welfare and justice concerns for youth offenders in detention in NSW. And furthermore, this essay will analyse the implications of youth detention on young offender’s and society. And ultimately argue that the NSW contemporary juvenile justice system is not driven by welfare and justice concerns. Given the fact that NSW has the highest rate of youth detention in Australia, and that there is overwhelming evidence to support the idea that youth detention carries detrimental physical and psychological consequences. Furthermore, the NSW juvenile justice system is not upholding the fact that young people